The CRS is a Congressional "think tank" with a staff of around 700. Reports are commissioned by members of Congress on topics relevant to current political events. Despite CRS costs to the tax payer of over $100M a year, its electronic archives are, as a matter of policy, not made available to the public.

Individual members of Congress will release specific CRS reports if they believe it to assist them politically, but CRS archives as a whole are firewalled from public access.

This report was obtained by Wikileaks staff from CRS computers accessible only from Congressional offices.

The purpose of this report is to examine the sources of Africas slow growth and continuing poverty, and to review the principal options being discussed by development experts and advocates for reducing poverty and promoting economic growth. For more detailed information on the U.S. assistance program in Africa and current legislation, see CRS Issue Brief IB95052, Africa: U.S. Foreign Assistance Issues.